Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 2016
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2016 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Scott Burns
CHIEF 'S OFFER TO ADDICTS IS SAVING LIVES AND MONEY
GLOUCESTER, Mass. - Leonard Campanello leans forward. "There's no
incentive or coercion that will stop an addict," he says. "This is
the only long-term illness on the planet where if the disease
presents itself, they kick you out" of treatment.
I met Campanello at the Sugar Magnolias breakfast place on Main
Street in downtown Gloucester, where he told me about his amazing
offer to drug addicts. It's an offer that will change drug treatment
in America, reduce crime, decrease drug-related deaths, drop
incarceration and destigmatize substance abuse while restoring the
community role of the police. It will save lives and money at the
same time. This is a sea change. Before you get the wrong idea, let
me assure you that Campanello, the chief of police in this city of
28,000, isn't a reformer. He doesn't look like a reformer. He's a
cop, a fact-and-evidence guy. He speaks without hyperbole in a
boots-on-the-ground Boston accent. You can't listen to him without
having a sense that he is absolutely right. So what was that amazing
offer? Last year, on March 5, after a string of fatal overdoses in
Gloucester, Campanello made this declaration on the department's Facebook page:
As a police department, let me again make our policy clear:
If you are not involved in opiates or heroin, help us. Inform
yourself, call us when you see activity, volunteer. You can make a difference.
If you are a user of opiates or heroin, let us help you. We know you
do not want this addiction. We have resources here in the city that
can and will make a difference in your life. Do not become a statistic.
If you are a dealer of heroin, opiates or any other poison ... We are
coming for you. We will find you. We will prosecute you to the
fullest extent possible. You will pay the price for making money off
the misery of others. It's not a matter of if we find you; it's a
matter of when. You've gotten your warning. Get out of our city.
A few days, later, Campanello made the offer very clear: In
Gloucester, an addict could come to police headquarters, give up his
supply of drugs, and he would not be arrested. Instead, he would be
offered detox and a recovery program overseen by a crew of "angels"
who would provide long-term daily support.
In addition, the department would make certain that Narcan, a drug
that counteracts opiates, would be readily available.
'Don't be ashamed'
As a result, Campanello could write this on the department Facebook
page on Jan. 18 of this year.
"Today I write directly to the person suffering from addiction.
Gloucester had four overdoses in the last 24 hours. That's the bad news.
The good news is all were brought back to us by the increased
availability and proliferation of Narcan. A city outside Boston had
30 overdoses in the last 48 hours. ...
"Don't be ashamed of your illness. We are not ashamed of you. ..
"We've dedicated the last eight months to helping YOU. Why? Because
we don't want to lose you. When you're ready, we will be here."
Note that this is not a top-down change from thinkers on high. It is,
like virtually all real change, from the grass roots.
Campanello, a former undercover cop, simply got tired of "arresting
the same people over and over." And seeing the death and devastation
of drug addiction made his frustration worse.
An initiative
In 2014, there were 47,055 deaths nationwide from lethal drug
overdoses. In that number, nearly twice as many died from
prescription painkillers as from heroin.
Campanello is not alone.
When the original Facebook posting went viral, he called John
Rosenthal, a Boston real estate developer who had earlier volunteered
help if he ever needed it. The response to the Gloucester initiative,
Campanello told me, "was like trying to drink from a fire hose."
So they started the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery
Initiative, a nonprofit that is organizing to spread and support the
idea. Already, 57 police departments have joined, including Grapevine.
Will it end drug addiction in America? Sadly, no. But it may reduce
it. And that's more than our endless, top-down "war on drugs" has done.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom